At WNS, It's Game On!

Last school year we focused on rebuilding our WNS community and this year will be no different! While our pandemic-related protocols have largely been lifted, this page is intended to be your one-stop-shop to any and all important health updates in relation to COVID-19. 

1. Limit Chance of Exposure

  • Masks: While masks are now optional for our WNS community both indoors and outdoors, please keep high quality masks handy. We ask that you use your best judgement when around others that you do not know. If you are in a crowded indoor venue, we encourage you to consider wearing a mask. 
  • Antigen tests: Test regularly, and ask others to do so, too. If you or your student were in a situation where exposure could have occurred (big indoor event, indoor sports activities, travel activities, etc.), please take an antigen test before coming back to campus.
  • Symptom screening: continue to seriously symptom screen and keep your students home if they have any non-chronic symptoms.
  • Communicate: email or call the school nurse if you have had a potential close contact so we can guide you on any isolation precautions. 
  • Playdates: This is a time to schedule lots of playdates for your children! We suggest antigen testing before playdates. Please actively supervise during these playdates, as many children are relearning how to socialize and engage in positive play, sharing, and managing their language, and may need your positive coaching. 

2. COVID Vaccination

  • There is no single better barrier to spreading COVID or to avoid serious illness than to get the COVID vaccine.
  • It is a baseline expectation that our entire school community be fully vaccinated if eligible. 
  • 100% of WNS Faculty and Staff, as well as ACE teachers and coaches, are required to be fully vaccinated.
  • Being ‘fully vaccinated’ means having received a booster vaccine when eligible.

Update for the 2023-24 School Year: 

  • We see it as a very important component of a personal and community health strategy and appreciate that nearly 100% of our students are currently vaccinated. As with masking, testing, and other strategies, we have begun to shift the responsibility for maintaining a healthy and safe environment onto individual families, and it is working well. We continue to monitor reliable studies, Health Department guidance, and the recommendations of our Health, Safety, and Security Task Force. 

    Based on all of our current information, WNS will not be requiring documentation of COVID-19 vaccinations for students as a part of enrollment for the 2023-24 school year. Given the current trends we see with the pandemic and based on the information we have at this time, we still highly recommend that all students are vaccinated for COVID-19, and will continue to provide vaccination clinics as frequently as possible to support efforts to stay current with COVID boosters and flu vaccines. 

    We reserve the right to again require COVID-19 vaccinations for all students in the event that:
    • (a) the State of California requires it of schools OR
    • (b) conditions and information change in such a way that we determine it is necessary to require COVID-19 vaccinations to maintain the health and safety of the school community. 

3. Symptom Screening

The most important thing you can do is to authentically symptom screen the household each morning and hold your student back from school if anyone in your household has any of the following symptoms:
 
  • Runny nose
  • Sore throat
  • Cough
  • Fever over 100.4 degrees
  • Chills and/or body pain.

Testing Protocols for 2023-24 School Year

We will no longer be testing students on a weekly basis as of the start of the 2022-23 school year, subject to change.
 
Please note, this may change if conditions change, and we have a system with PATH (our testing partner) that will allow us to test students during the school day if necessary. For new students, you can register with PATH here. 

4. School Based Layers of Mitigation

Masks:

Students, faculty, and staff: masks will be optional at WNS, both indoors and outdoors, subject to change. 
  • Exception: students or faculty in school under one of our “exposure protocols” must wear a high-quality face mask (KN95 or KF94).
    • Cloth and surgical masks are not acceptable for school use

Illness Policy: 

Students and employees who have a new onset of symptoms should not come to school. To return to school, they must have a negative COVID test and be free of fever for 24 hours, without fever-reducing agents. Those who develop symptoms on campus may obtain a COVID test at the nurse’s office on either campus. 

5. Infection Containment

Please report any active COVID cases to schoolnurse@wns-la.org. 
 
  • In-School Exposure
    • Students in a grade level with a known exposure must wear masks indoors for five days.
    • Symptom screen daily and report any signs of symptoms to the school nurse (schoolnurse@wns-la.org).
    • Students must take a home antigen test on day three after the exposure (WNS Health Services will provide guidance if this situation occurs). Results must be to uploaded to Playground.
  • In-Home Exposure
    • Consult with the school nurses (schoolnurse@wns-la.org) for guidance on the advisability of asymptomatic students with a negative antigen test attending school. 
      • Take home antigen tests on day one and day five and symptom screen daily. 
      • Students must wear a mask at school for 10 days.

Visitors On Campus

We are prioritizing getting our parents and caregivers back on campus and integrated back into our school community!
 
We ask that you symptom screen and stay home if feeling unwell. Please also feel free to wear a mask at your discretion. 

Non-COVID Health & Safety Guidance

Beyond COVID, it is critical to us to keep our community healthy and safe. With this in mind, please keep these important school protocols front of mind to do your part in helping us maintain a safe environment:
  • Required Vaccinations – all children in the state of California are required to be vaccinated to protect themselves and others from a variety of diseases. Documentation of these vaccinations must be entered into your child(ren)’s MAGNUS Health Record prior to the opening of school. 
  • Lanyards – all parents and caregivers are provided WNS lanyards; they need to be worn at all times on campus. It is a critical link in our school safety protocols. 
  • Car Decals – all vehicles coming onto campus for student drop-off or pick-up must display a WNS Decal so we know the vehicle belongs on our campus. 
  • Driving Around Campus and Student Drop-off and Pick-up Protocols – please review and follow all of our protocols for safe traffic flow and CUP requirements.
  • Gate Codes & Building Access – as is our practice, all of the gate codes that secure all of the campus entrances have been changed for campus security. As a part of our campus safety plan, all of our campus entrances are protected by fencing and gates that require these codes for access. Parents and guests need to check in at one of our security kiosks to access to our school buildings.